The sparse palette - Lenker’s acoustic, incidental percussion, reassuring tape hiss - serves to isolate the quiet brilliance of the melodies, setting their winding, spontaneous beauty against angst that spans existential questioning and the nuts and bolts of severing ties with someone you care about.

They’re reborn, revitalised, and really rather good.

A U R O R A is both testing of boundaries and transcendental of beauty.

Overall, Modern Vampires Of The City conveys one hell of a sense of permanence from a band that once seemed ephemeral and frivolous.

Whilst the premise of this album is for Ariana to purge all memories of her previous relationship whilst coming of age into her third decade, it’s highly unlikely we will be forgetting about ‘Eternal Sunshine’ any time soon.

Even with 30 tracks, there is rarely an uninteresting moment across three LPs. Fans of Wilco and Tweedy will lap this up no doubt, and far from being throwaway, there is a sense of urgency and purpose throughout.

Ultimately 'Under~Between' is the work of an artist serious about his music without being a Serious Musician.

It goes without saying that he hasn’t lost what has made him a permanent fixture of British music for so long.

Produced by man of the moment, Danger Mouse, the sound remains unmistakably Black Keys but adds further dimensions to what is already a winning mix.

A slimmed down project that is over before you feel it really hits its stride, it exists in an uneven nether space that continues Robyn’s legend in some ways and takes some of the shine off it in others.

Here, we hear hints of funk, jazz, Americana and folk--and before you know it, the album’s ingrained itself.

It does not lose sight of its subject, and goes from strength to strength after each listen. There is no doubt that ‘Double Infinity’ will be a milestone release for Big Thief – for the band’s past, present, and future.

This is the album we've been waiting for, whether we knew it or not.

It doesn’t challenge expectation, but equally it does nothing, puts nary a single step wrong, to risk their reputation as a preeminent act of their kind, and of our times.

Things are prone to occasional lulls with three tracks exceeding ten minutes. However, Johansson is capable of some beautifully stirring music, and when this album soars, it is a treat.

This sophomore LP does a bit of everything, but this time around feels more refined, consistent and polished: exactly what a follow up should be. And on a label roster saturated with enormous amounts of talent, Rina Sawayama is making a pretty good claim to being the ruler.

Expectations for CMAT’s second album were sky-high, but she’s managed to reach new musical heights with ease and style. ‘Crazymad, For Me’ is another smash hit from a showstopper vocalist that really puts the fun back in pop music.

Passion is a puzzling thing, expressed in myriad manners. But it can never be fabricated, and Ought’s heated brand of it is amongst the most bracing sounds anyone can encounter in 2014.

‘Any Shape You Take’, rich in the emotional palette that it’s genre-free conveys, gathers together sentiments that may be familiar to many but haven’t been depicted in the vivid and complex methods explored here.

A daydream-like haze smudges the crispness of the beats while Lewis sings his osmotic melodies, his tones akin to Richard Swift gone disco.

Intended settings aside, Song For Alpha demands repeated listening, finding its place oscillating between the ecstasy and dejection of experience.

Lean, mean and as uncompromisingly focused as its maker, this is an album for everyone's collection, and whilst Weller is perhaps not the man he once was, the man he is now is most definitely still a force to be reckoned with.

Sure, the combination of digital bleepage and raaawk! is nothing new, but few electronic bands have rocked quite so hard as these guys do.

Broadly eclectic throughout, it's a buoyant return.

Largely Uyai stands as a genre meshing oddity which, thanks to its pure groove and spirituality, will appeal to those who haunt the dance floor as well as their own dimly lit bedrooms.

Songhoy Blues have once again produced an album for all. The small-minded stamp of ‘world music’ does not apply here (or should anywhere really). This is quite simply a record for anyone ready to get down to some beautiful rhythms.

Belief is a truly remarkable record; hermetic and idiosyncratic, the work of a stubborn maverick pursuing his own lone path.

That the new Daphne & Celeste album is not just good, but great may seem absurd, but that’s the only way to describe it. It’s full of moments of sublime pop genius, thrilling electronica, unexpected warmth, DGAF attitude and good humour.